


Fieldwork

by zarinthel



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22289911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarinthel/pseuds/zarinthel
Summary: gift for @lemonsspliceprompt: Jigen from Lupin III being cutehappy secret santa!
Relationships: Jigen Daisuke & Arsène Lupin III
Comments: 3
Kudos: 34





	Fieldwork

“Do you like to shoot at pigeons for fun?”

Lupin leaned back against the top of their ramshackle car, letting his cigarette blow out as he stares up at the sky. 

“No way, boss,” Jigen says, scratching his head. “Why? Did a pigeon just come into some money?” He reaches for his lighter, only to realize he lost his last one in the deep lake of a foreign castle and has forgotten to replace it. “Aw, shit. Lemme borrow your lighter, boss.” 

“I was just thinking,” Lupin says. “You’re the best shot in the world, right.” 

“No idea. I’m good enough to have your back, that’s all I know.” 

Instead of handing Jigen his lighter, Lupin instead hands him the smoking end of the cigarette he’d just been smoking. It’s short, and crumples in his hand, but a light’s a light. 

“I’m the best thief in the world, though. And Goemon’s the best of the best at cutting things, that kind of thing. So I think it fits, that you’re the best.”

“Like a puzzle piece, huh? But Fujiko’s not the best at anything.” 

“She’s the best at being mysterious.” 

Jigen stares up at the cloudy sky, chewing slowly on the burning end until it sputters out. 

“Does that count?” He doesn’t think so. 

A pigeon drifts across his vision, and poops directly onto the car where Lupin’s reclining. The world renowned thief jerks up, narrowly dodging in time. 

“Augh!” 

“Looks like you jinxed yourself, boss.” Jigen tips his fedora further forward, to cover his eyes from the emergence of the sun. 

“You know what we have to do,” Lupin says, even though they both know how this goes. They both stand up, staggering to their feet, Lupin springing from foot to foot as if this small stillness is too much to ask. 

“Ro.. sham.. Bo!” 

Jigen always loses. 

“Nice!” Says Lupin. He settles back onto the flowery field while Jigen grumbles to his feet, kicking open the trunk to retrieve something to wipe off the bird shit. A loose gear rolls out of trunk when he opens it, but it's nothing important. The car will run till it crashes, and then they’ll find another one, maybe a different shade of yellow. 

If he thinks about it like that, the bird shit isn’t important either. 

“Maybe I should’ve shot the pigeon,” he says, climbing up to step halfway through the sunroof. This is where he likes to shoot from: its comfortable here. 

“What?” Lupin asks. He doesn’t nap the way Jigen does-- he likes to think too much. He’s found a patch of daisies, and twists them in his hands. If they're here for another hour, he’ll be wearing a flower crown. 

“Forgot already? You asked me if I shot at birds.” 

“Oh yeah.” He can’t see Lupin anymore. The man seems distracted, which means that wherever they end up next, it’s going to be trouble. “Thieving’s in my blood,” Lupin the Third says, voice arrogant. “But you don’t have a famous ancestor. I was just thinking about it.” 

Lupin’s mouth always gets him in trouble. 

“Maybe think about it a little less, boss.” 

Lupin bursts out laughing. 

“You know I don’t listen to good advice, Jigen. It’s all about the thrill-- I have to make everything last, right down to the last second. Everything has its time. That’s what I’ve learned. Meeting women, finding money, losing money, sending letters to the police-- all at the right time.” 

“You told the police where we are again!?” 

The bird poop’s gone, but he’s going to break the glass instead. 

“Relax, relax. I told them where we’re going, not where we are.” 

Jigen feels something drop onto his fedora. He takes it off, blinking at the daisy crown at now rings the black felt. The hat feels lighter, somehow. He puts it back on. 

“How’s it look?” 

Lupin’s smile always reaches the edges of his cheeks, like he stole something so good that it can’t fit inside his face. 

“It’s not bad,” Lupin decides. “But it’s missing something. Oh, I know--” He dives back into the grass, rummaging around for the few daisies that escaped his earlier rampage. Jigen leans back into the car, sinking into his usual slump. 

It’s strange for him to be so invested in anything outside of the job, even if it’s just something easy, like flowers. 

“What’s up, boss?” He doubts Lupin will tell him. The man likes to claim he tells all, but he guards his true thoughts deeper than most people, even if just for a laugh. Maybe their next town has an old flame of Lupins; another job gone wrong that he burns to set right; an evil that makes Lupin and him look like common criminals. 

If it’s that last one, Jigen is going to shake him like a paper doll, and all his secrets fall out through rips in his paper clothes. 

Lupin resurfaces with another hand full of common weeds. 

“Hold still, Jigen.” 

A disguise...?

Flowers now dot all the way through his beard, making him sneeze. 

“Seriously, boss. What--” 

Lupin dances back, sticking his hands on his hips so he can look over his handiwork like he’s just forged a painting for the Louvre. 

Jigen blinks back at him, disgruntled. He’s going to be spending hours picking leaves out of all his hair. 

“Did you fall on your head? We should get you to a doctor.” Jigen ignores how nagging he sounds, the genuine worry at Lupin’s odd state of mind creeping through his thoughts. 

“Only if she’s a hot nurse, Jigen,” Lupin says, laughing a little. “Not that there’s going to be anything like that in the next town over.” 

So he has been there before. Typical. 

“Boss...” His teeth are grinding. 

“Happy birthday, Jingen!” 

Lupin grins, happily stealing a picture of him with flowers stuck on his face by the side of a deserted robe in a country no one’s ever heard of. 

Jigen sighs. 

“Give me a light, Lupin.” 

The greatest thief in the world tosses him his lighter, and he takes another drag on another cigarette. 

“Another year with you, boss.”


End file.
